Greetings from iPhone Hell (European Edition)

[Fraggle]

As some of you may know, the iPhone release for the UK was announced on Tuesday. The iPhone, as with the states, will be available on only one phone network, O2.

Let me state now, i hate the iPhone, already i hate it for the suck its bringing out in people.
Every single call i have had about this thing since Tuesday has been from whiney angry people calling to complain that its not on 'their' network.

Including this call i've just finished.

Me: Hello, welcome to snapple, my name is Fraggle, how can i help?
SC: Im ringing to complain (at least he was up front)
Me: Im sorry to hear that, what can i do?
SC: It appears your iPhone is only being released on O2, thats not good to me.
Me: Im sorry to hear that, O2 have been chosen to as the exclusive carrier for the UK
SC: Listen to me, THIS IS NO GOOD TO ME

Now the call went on like this for about 10 mintues, i have no idea what the hell he wanted me to do and all i could think was 'get a fucking life mate'.

Its been like this all week, i cringe when i see and iphone call coming in.

I spent half an hour on the phone yesterday with a guy who kept telling me that the iphone didn't have any features he wanted and he didn't want to change networks.

Yes, think about that, half an hour of him telling me he didn't want the product no one was forcing him to buy.

[crazylegs]

Whatever they're smoking, I want some!

[jigshoes86]

A half an hour? Damn....people amaze me....he doesn't wanna buy it he just wants to tell you this? Wow...that leaves me speechless.

You have my sympathys.

[WHShit]

ASSMAN (the boyfriend) is a manager at O2......and he was telling me yesterday that he is dreading the release of the phone. I am sure that I will have many stories from him to share with CS!

I think I am going to get one though, as my IPod is starting to break and the warranty has run out! I also got the new Cocoon phone (from O2) which I was disappointed with. Also, because ASSMAN works there, I have dibs on the phone before most people, and I CAN get it if I want......maybe, I am not sure. I want people to be jealous....tee hee. It is explensive though.

But, YES! Good stories sure to be coming your way people!

[Fraggle]

ASSMAN (the boyfriend) is a manager at O2......and he was telling me yesterday that he is dreading the release of the phone. I am sure that I will have many stories from him to share with CS!

I think I am going to get one though, as my IPod is starting to break and the warranty has run out! I also got the new Cocoon phone (from O2) which I was disappointed with. Also, because ASSMAN works there, I have dibs on the phone before most people, and I CAN get it if I want......maybe, I am not sure. I want people to be jealous....tee hee. It is explensive though.

But, YES! Good stories sure to be coming your way people!

Tell him he has my sympathies.

At the moment im dealing with people yelling at me because 'my' company went with o2 instead of vodafone/orange/t-mobile (delete as applicable). If this was my company i wouldn't be answering the phone.

I have no idea what outcome these people are expecting. Maybe they want me to get Stevie J. on the phone to get the contract with O2 cancelled.

Now i suspect O2 got the contract because they bid the most money for it. So if these people have a problem they should be contacting their network and bugging them about not paying out enough. But then, as we all know the logic of an SC, they probably are.

[sms001]

I spent half an hour on the phone yesterday with a guy who kept telling me that the iphone didn't have any features he wanted and he didn't

So would this be a bad time for me to tell you that I don't want one either? (Extra super sucky customer bonus points for telling you something so useless when I'm neither with your company NOR on your continent?)

Very strange. But at least you won't have to deal with the price drop fiasco

[BookstoreEscapee]

Maybe they can find that kid who figured out how to unlock his iPhone and get T-Mobile on it...

[Knifeman]

A hacker in the US hacked the I-phone to take any carrier, and he got a sports car and a job for a cellular phone company.

[Barefootgirl]

[quote=Fraggleif these people have a problem they should be contacting their network and bugging them about not paying out enough. But then, as we all know the logic of an SC, they probably are. [/quote]

Yes, they are. Vodafone reps particularly, are getting it in the neck both on the phone and in the shops. I was in Carphone Warehouse the other day and I think every other person asked the assistant some variant on "will the iPhone be available on Orange/Vodafone/T-Mobile/can i buy one today?" I felt so sorry for the poor girl.

[Gurndigarn]

What I would like to know... why did Apple decide to go with just one company for their phone? That had to have been one hell of a bribe... er, "partnership contract". I mean, the US has four major carriers, and a number of surviving small regional ones, too. Wouldn't it make sense to try to sell to all four?

[ArenaBoy]

Wouldn't it make sense to try to sell to all four?

If it makes sense it's not allowed.

Interesting facts for fellow Americans: O2 was Arsenal's shirt sponsor for a while and Vodafone was Manchester United's shirt sponsor. O2 is also England's rugby sponsor too I think.

[deafcat24]

My sister works for an Apple Customer Service call-center. Fortunately she went on maternity leave right before the IPhone came out in the US (she had a little girl on Wednesday btw, with my cousin's daughter born in December, they become the first pair of girls in a row for over 20 years on my dad's side.)

Now I don't know if she would be taking any calls for the Iphone becuase she was on the Canadian side of the call-centre. They take both. But I wonder how the call-center has handled it so far. We don't get the Iphone because Rogers refuses to give Apple rights to their technology I think, and none of the other companies use the technology.

Although she has talked to some of her co-workers, and they have lots of complaints about the customers with the Iphone.

[yomiko]

Wouldn't it make sense to try to sell to all four?

Nope, they're creating artificial scarcity. When it's rare, people WANT it. It's why diamonds are expensive. I mean, think about it, $600 for a phone? If someone just presented it to you like that, you'd rupture your internal organs you'd be laughing so hard. But 'gimmicks' such as 'oh look it's sooooooooooo cool' and 'only available here' make people lust after it.

Personally, I'm just sitting back and shaking my head (and kinda laughing) at the early adopters (after the price cut, they got back $100 that they could only spend at Apple. Yeah, that'll pay the bills)

[Broomjockey]

We don't get the Iphone because Rogers refuses to give Apple rights to their technology I think, and none of the other companies use the technology.

Huh, I'd heard that part of the problem was Rogers simply was using older tech that the other carriers had moved past, and the iphone wasn't capable of running on the newer stuff (mostly data network side). I'll see if I can find the article again, but it was a while ago, so I'm not holding my breath

[queenbb]

it amazes me that people are buying it in a futile attempt to hope that it will work on their carrier (aside from the guy who hacked it)

what sucks is that, i know the phone will not be covered by att's insurance, as i had a talk with the customer service there (a day i was a very sucky customer) they informed me that pda phones are not covered because of the high instance of theft and damage they get. (i was mad cause they gave me a pda phone as a replacement and later on told me that it wasnt covered under the insurance plan this among other things made me a sc)